The Aporias of Reflexivity: Standpoint,Position, and Non-normative Childhoods

In social work practice and research, both researchers and practitioners are required to be self-reflexive in order to produce authorized knowledge. In this article I examine the aporias of reflexivity, using aporia as a concept for dealing with and discussing the dilemmas, limitations, and shortcomings of reflexive methodology. To examine in a concrete and detailed way related issues involving the aporias of reflexivity, this article describes a project focused on non-normative childhoods in which reflexive research practice raised many, often highly ambiguous, questions concerning the processes of marginalization and domination as well as ethical considerations.